Recovery Stories

I was at CicLAvia, Los Angeles’ quarterly bike festival, and I saw the thief riding my bike. I followed him and flagged down police and they arrested him. translated from English

Photo of recovered bike Geoffrey Bike recovered 2016.10.16

Bike was found with Bike Index assistance translated from English

Photo of recovered bike Phillip Bike recovered 2016.10.16

Bike shop checked the Bike Index registry while doing repairs and called. translated from English

Photo of recovered bike Terry Bike recovered 2016.10.14

Portland Transit Police spotted at Gateway Transit Center and checked serial number on the Bike Index. translated from English

Photo of recovered bike Dan Bike recovered 2016.10.13

An off duty cop found it in a homeless camp in the city and used Bike Index to contact me. translated from English

Photo of recovered bike Capri Bike recovered 2016.10.10

A good samaritan found the serial on Bike Index and contacted me, as well as the RCMP. In the end, I got it back! translated from English

Photo of recovered bike Matthew Bike recovered 2016.10.9

Police found it and matched it on the Bike Index! translated from English

Photo of recovered bike Raffaela Bike recovered 2016.10.8

Someone said they found it, kept it for 6 months, then saw it on the Bike Index and returned it. Thanks Bike Index! translated from English

Photo of recovered bike Nick Bike recovered 2016.10.6

San Francisco Police Department found bike in a park with thieves and searched the serial number online and found that I had listed it on Bike Index as stolen. translated from English

Photo of recovered bike Jared Bike recovered 2016.10.4

The bike showed up at a flea market. Another cyclist bought it, looked it up on the Bike Index, and contacted me! translated from English

Photo of recovered bike Andy Bike recovered 2016.10.3

Someone found it at a local pawn shop 2 years after it was stolen and id'ed the serial thanks to the Bike Index :)! Police are investigating! translated from English

Photo of recovered bike Hugues Bike recovered 2016.10.3

Sumner Police Department found it Sept. 29 being ridden in the Fred Meyer parking lot on Sumner. Couple questions later and a check of the serial # on Bike Index and I get a call that they've got my bike for me! translated from English

Photo of recovered bike Preston Bike recovered 2016.10.3

Police found bike in an abandoned house and looked it up on Bike Index translated from English

Photo of recovered bike Frank Bike recovered 2016.10.3

Bike Index user spotted it for sale in PPB auction, recovered. translated from English

Photo of recovered bike Bryan Bike recovered 2016.10.2

My bike was stolen and came up for sale on Facebook on the 5th. I noticed it yesterday and was able to bait them into taking to a bike shop to get checked out. They confirmed it was my bike, we called the cops, the bad guys ran away, and I have my bike back. Hopefully, that's the end to it and there are no repercussions. translated from English

Photo of recovered bike Bryan Bike recovered 2016.10.2

ID'd on the Bike Index and recovered. translated from English

Photo of recovered bike Conrad Bike recovered 2016.10.2

Someone contacted me through this site to let me know they found it in their complex. If it wasn't for your site I don't know if I would have ever gotten it back. translated from English

Photo of recovered bike Karen Bike recovered 2016.10.1

Someone tipped me off that it was at a certain address. I found it there, called the cops, and they searched the yard, gave my bike back to me, and seized other stolen bikes from the yard. Thank you Bike Index and good samaritan tip person! translated from English

Photo of recovered bike Paul Recumbent recovered 2016.9.30

Bike mechanic at SF Caltrain thought it looked suspicious. Looked it up on Bike Index and called me! translated from English

Photo of recovered bike Sean Bike recovered 2016.9.29

Twitter users noticed bike in possession of a shady looking guy in the Bayview neighborhood of SF, identified it from the Bike Index and posted it. SFPD Bayview station were notified and made the recovery. translated from English

Photo of recovered bike Beaudry Bike recovered 2016.9.29

A really rad member of the Portland community saw my bike and contacted me through Bike Index. I had my bike back an hour later--I've had this bike for 14 years, so I'm really happy to have it back! Bryan w/ the Bike Index team was super helpful with keeping me up to date throughout the 4 days it was missing. Thanks to the entire team, and all of the people of Portland who helped return my bike to me! translated from English

Photo of recovered bike Sam Bike recovered 2016.9.28

A neighbor told the family who found my bike about Bike Index and they looked me up! My bike had made it all the way across town. It was such a good surprise and a good story. translated from English

Photo of recovered bike Katie Bike recovered 2016.9.25

One of the Bike Index users found it, restored it, and returned it to me. translated from English

Photo of recovered bike Elisha Bike recovered 2016.9.24

The detective matched my bike on the Bike Index. translated from English

Photo of recovered bike Chris Bike recovered 2016.9.23

George at Bike Nuts in Lynnwood, WA bought from some thieves and found it listed on Bike Index. translated from English

Photo of recovered bike Tom Bike recovered 2016.9.21

Someone from Bike Index notified me of a posting on Offer Up. I then coordinated with local police and setup a sting and got my bike back. Thank you Bike Index for your thankless work! translated from English

Photo of recovered bike Erik Bike recovered 2016.9.20

A woman contacted me after discovering that bike someone was trying to sell her was my stolen Bianchi. She looked up the serial number on the bike index and found me! translated from English

Photo of recovered bike Shelby Bike recovered 2016.9.19

Returned by someone who ran the serial number on Bike Index translated from English

Photo of recovered bike Timothy Bike recovered 2016.9.18

Park police found my bike abandoned in a park and looked it up in the Bike Index database and reached out to me via email. translated from English

Photo of recovered bike Casey Bike recovered 2016.9.16

The person who stole it tried to sell it on the street; the buyer, a good guy, guessed that the bike was stolen so he bought it; he looked on-line and learned that it was my bike. I presume the good guy learned traced me through Bike Index because this was the only place I posted about it. translated from English

Photo of recovered bike Samina Bike recovered 2016.9.14

Found it on the French equivalent of Craigslist and contacted the police. translated from English

Photo of recovered bike Matt Bike recovered 2016.9.14

Someone came into Kozy's Cyclery to get the spokes fixed after they were cut (being stolen). The mechanic thought it looked fishy and looked up on the Bike Index and saw my posting. They called the police, the police called me and shared with me the news they found my bike! translated from English

Photo of recovered bike Tessa Bike recovered 2016.9.14

Found by Charlie and Cari at the Berkeley Bart Bike Station, in cooperation with Berkeley Police. Contacted me as a result of registering serial number in Bike Index. translated from English

Photo of recovered bike Rob Bike recovered 2016.9.7

Web sleuthing and partnership with the Portland Bike Theft Task Force. translated from English

Photo of recovered bike Paul Bike recovered 2016.9.7

Was purchased from the thief by a guy that tunes and flips bikes. Upon seeing the serial number listed on The Bike Index, the purchaser contacted me and returned the bike! translated from English

Photo of recovered bike Phil Bike recovered 2016.9.6

Found by a guy in Florida. The Bike Index got involved and helped me get it back. translated from English

Photo of recovered bike Bryan Bike recovered 2016.9.5

Found by buyer, ID'd with Bike Index help. translated from English

Photo of recovered bike McKenna Bike recovered 2016.9.4

Recovered by WTF bikes with Bike Index assist translated from English

Photo of recovered bike Bryan Bike recovered 2016.9.3

Bike spotted on LETGO by a Bike Index user and a sting ensued, owner updated us. translated from English

Photo of recovered bike David Bike recovered 2016.9.3

Recovered with Bike Index help after going from OU to a pawn shop. translated from English

Photo of recovered bike Jaime Bike recovered 2016.9.3

The cops recovered it with Bike Index assistance. translated from English

Photo of recovered bike Sampson Bike recovered 2016.9.3

An observer saw my bicycle through Bike Index and called the Portland Bureau of Police, who made the arrest and released my bicycle to me! translated from English

Photo of recovered bike James Bike recovered 2016.9.2

Gents from Abraham's Fixes Bikes in Portland saw it, threw a lock on it, and called the police. The thief, upon discovery of the lock, took the front wheel and jetted. Bike Index and great bike folks in Portland do it again! translated from English

Photo of recovered bike Tim Bike recovered 2016.9.1

Thank you so much Joe and Bike Index! Joe saw a sketchy add on OfferUp, checked on Bike Index and contacted me. We set up a buy and got the cops. I got my Bessie bike back!! translated from English

Photo of recovered bike Jon Bike recovered 2016.8.31

Seattle Police found it on Bike Index and called me. Big kudos to them! translated from English

Photo of recovered bike Robbins Bike recovered 2016.8.24

A person bought the bike from someone on the street and then checked Bike Index to see if it was a stolen bike. We had registered the bike and so he found it and contacted us. On Monday morning we were lamenting the loss of the bike. By Tuesday evening we had the bike back and were grateful for our good Samaritan and for Bike Index. translated from English

Photo of recovered bike Jason Bike recovered 2016.8.24

The Vancouver police department found it then searched it on Bike Index. translated from English

Photo of recovered bike Kamila Bike recovered 2016.8.17

Get a text from someone who saw Bike Index post. Went to location, @Best Buy/Division and called cops. Thanks to the community and Bike Index!! Teamwork!! translated from English

Photo of recovered bike Stephanie Cargo Bike (Front Storage) recovered 2016.8.16

Auburn, WA Police Dept tracked it down to a Pawn Shop in Seattle, then found it listed on Bike Index translated from English

Photo of recovered bike Jeff Bike recovered 2016.8.10

A person within 2 blocks found my bike after another bike theft. Looked up the bike on the Bike Index and got my contact info! translated from English

Photo of recovered bike Zachary Bike recovered 2016.8.4